Instrument-board lamp



Jim. 23 fr l T. J. KERWIN.

INSTRUMENT BOARD LAMP. FILED OCT. 21. 1920.

Patented Ian. 23, i923..

IINITED STATES A t PATENT critic THOMAS JI. KERWIN, OF CHICAGO, IILLII-ISIOIS, ASSIGNOR TO EDMU'NDS @c IONIIES .CORPORATION, A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

i Ins'rnirlunn'r-Boann Larme.

Ipplication filed `October 21, 1920. Serial No. 418,527.

To all whom it my concern:

, Be it known that I, THOMAS J. KERWIN, citizen of the Unitedv States, residing at Chicago, in the county .of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in an Instrument- Board Lamp; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact de-l scription of the invention,such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My invention relates to electric {ittings suitable for use with the type of incandescent lamps which has a pair of eX- posed terminals upon the base of the lamp, oneA of its general aims being that of providin a novel switching socket which can readiy be manipulated for turning the lamp on or oli', inwhich the cooperating contact parts will." b e yieldingly latchedv either in their on or off positions, and

` in which this latching is referably accomplished by the same spring means which insure good electrical connection between the circuit terminals of the socket and the terminals of the lamp.

In another aspect, my invention aims to provide a lamp socket equipped with a hood ,or reflector for the lamp and so arranged that the socket can readily be switched on or off by manipulating the hood. In this latter aspect, 4my invention partcularly relates to sockets or receptacles suitable for use on the dash-boards of automobiles, and for that purpose aims to provide a socket equipped with a suitable reflector or cowl for properly directing the light of the lamp,` to provide simple means operable by a rotational movement of the reflector or cowl in either direction for switching the socket either on o-r oi", and to provide simple and Y edective means for permitting such a re- Fili lector or cowl to be attached to or detached from the socket without interfering with the aforesaid operative connections.

In one of its highly., desirable commercial embodiments, my inventionrelates -toy a so-4 called instrument board lamp and I am therefore describing it in such an embodi ment in the following specification and correspondingly illustrating it in the accom-` panying drawings, leaving further and more detailed objects of my invention to appear from the said specification and drawings. In the drawings,

along the Fig. l is an elevation of an instrument board lamp embodying my invention, show- 1ng the same as it appears when attached to the dashfhoard' of an automobile.

y Fig. 2 1s a transverse section through the same, taken along the correspondingly numbered line of Fig. 1.

F 1g. 3 is an enlarged central and longitudlnal section through the socket and the adjacent portion of the dash-board, taken correspondingly numbered. i line in Fig. 2. 7

Fig. 4 is a transverse section taken alo-ng the correspondingly numbered line in Fig. 3 and showing the 'relative disposition of the socket terminals and of the lamp terminals both in their on and olf positions.

Fig. is an elevation of the socket and-of a portion of the lamp base interlocked therewith, taken from the bottom of 3 and with the cowl and the collar omitted.

In .the drawing, the lamp 1 has its base 2 equipped with a pair of laterally projectlng pms 3 lnterlocking with bayonet slots 4 1n a substantially cylindrical socket'shell 5 which slidably receives the said lamp base at its forward end. rIhis socket shell 5 is soldered into a rearwardly directed collar 6 cowl carrying -on a flange 7 adapted to be fastened to the dash-board 8 of an automobile by screws 9, so that both the socket shell 5 and the lamp are normally stationary. Rearward of the lamp base, the shell 5 houses the usual body portion or circuit-terminail-carrier of 'a socket of the type commonly used for auto- `in Fig. 4, in which latter position the two sets of terminals are out o-f engagement and the lamp is therefore switched off. To prou vide for a rotation of the circuit terminalcarrier between these two diHerent positions, 11o

I equip the shell 5 on one side with a slot l1 extending circumfeientially of the shell, and I fastento the insulator 10 a screw 15 which extends outwardlyI through the lateral slot 14. Consequently, bv moving the screw 15 from outside the shell, the circiiit-terininal-carrier can be moved from its on to its off position, or vice versa, so as to switch the lamp o-n or ofi. .I also ldesirably make the slot 14 substantially arcuate and conveXed towards the forward end 0f the shell 5, so that av movement of the screw 15 towards the middle of the slot will slide the insulator 10 lforwardly of the socket, or towards t-he base of the lamp. Since such a sliding movement will cause an additional compression. of thel springs 16 associated with the terminal plungers 11, these springs will resist such a movement of the screw in the slot and will therefore cooperate with the arcuate shape of the slot in normally-holding the screw at either one or the other end ofthe slot.

To move the screw for such switching purposes, I desirably extend the same also through a collar which is rotatable on the shell 5 of the socket, so that the switching may be effected by manually rotating this" l collar.

For this purpose, I am here showingga collar 17 surrounding the said slotted portion of the shell 5 and having an enlarged forward portion 18 adapted to receive the rear end of a reflecting hood or cowl 19. This collar has an enlargement or bead 20 which might be grasped by hand for rotating the collar and thereby moving the screw 15 `to effect the desired'switching. However, I preferably interlock the hood 19 with the collar portion 18 by some suitable means, such as the interengaging tits 21, so that the rotation of the circuit-terminal-carrier' can be effected by grasping this hood and rotating it for a quarter turn in one direction or the other. To provide a better bea-ring on the shell 5 for this collar while permitting the same to providethe enlarged forward end desired for holding a co,wl,'I

may interpose a sleeve 22 secured to the said f collar 17.

With the socket constructed as above described, it will be obvious that the lamp can be switched on or ofi` by merely grasping the hood or cowl 19 (or any other element interlocked with the screw 15 against relative rotation about the axis of the socket) and rotating the same a quarter turn in either direction. Moreover` the mechanism ofthe socket Ais"firmly latched with the movable pair of 'contact elements either in its' on or in its off position, so that .the accomplished switching is not affected by any jarring. ,Furthermore this latching is accomplished by exceedingly simple means and without employing any springs in addition to those associated with the contact plungers member,

of the socket, thereby insuring a simple and chea construction and one which has no auxiliary parts likely to get out of order.

However. I do not wish to be limited to this or other details of the construction and arrangement here disclosed. nor to the pai'- ticula'r forni ot' hood or reflector here illustiated except so tar as defined by the claims. nor to the use of my invention in connection with dash-board lamps. Obviously, various additions, omissions or other alterations might be made without departing from the spirit of my invention as announced by the claims.

I claim as .my invention t 1. In a lamp, a stationary member equipped for interlocking with the base of a lamp, an insulatorwithin the member carrying circuit terminals respectively disposedfor engaging the terminals of: the lamp, the insulator being rotatable within the member to move the said circuit terminals out of engagement with the lamp terminals, a colla-r housing a portion of the member and fastened to-the insulator, and a hoodcarried'by the collar and iiiterlocked therewith, `so that a movement of the reflector will rotate'the said collai and insu- -lator withrespect-to the member to switch .cuit terminal carrier in the shell, a collar rotatably mounted at one end on the shell, and having an outwardl extending peripheral bead between its ends and having itslopposite end spaced from the periphery .of the shell, a hood disposed about said opposite end of the rotatable collar and abutting the bead at one end, a lamp in the shell, and a member extendinv through the first named end of the rotatale collar and through the slot of the shell and into the terminal cai'- rier. so as to rotate the latter by and upon rotation of the hood and rotatable collar.

3. In a lamp, a supporting member, a lamp with base terminals .fixedly ,carried latter directly ,engaged with the lamp terminals, a hood for the lamp, means to rotatably connect the hood to said su porting and a screw connecting tqie hood andthe circuit carrier whereby rotation of the rhood will effect rotation of the carrier to thereby switch the lamp on and off.

4. In a lamp, a supporting member, a lamp ixedly carried thereby, a rotatable circuit'terminal carrier carried by the supporting member and having wires connected to its terminals and the latter directly engaged with the lamp terminals, a hood :for the lamp, a member rotatable on the iis masias.

supporting member, a hood fixed to the rotatable member, and means connecting the rotatable member to the terminal carrier whereby rotation of thevhood willeect r0 tation of the carrier to thereby switch the lamp on and off. y

5. ln a lamp, a shell, a lamp in the Shell having a pair of exposed terminals upon its base, means to rigidly connect the lamp to the shell, a rotatable circuit .terminal carrier in the shell having'wires connected to its terminals and the latter disposed for direct engagement with those of the lamp, a hood for the lamp rotatably mounted on the shell, and connecting means between the hood and the carrier whereby upon rotation'of the hood the carrier will be rotated to cause lits terminals to be engaged with Vor disengaged from the lamp terminals while the latter remains stationary.

6. lln a lamp, a shell, a lamp in the shell, means to rigidly connect the lamp to the shell, ya rotatable circuit terminal carrier in.

the-shell, a hoofd for the lamp, means to rotatably mount the hood on thev shell, and

means for rigidly connecting the hood to the terminal carrier so that rotation of the i hood will rotate the vcarrier and for preventing longitudinal movement of the hood relative to the shell.

7. In a lamp, a slotted shell, ailamp in the shell, means to rigidly connect the lamp to the shell, a rotatable circuit terminal carrier in the shell, a hood rotatable on the shell, and a fastener connected to the hood and extending through the slot of the shell and' connected to the carrier for causing the latter to rotate within the hood to switch the lamp on or off and for preventing longitudinal movement of the hood on the shell.

'8. In a lamp, la shell, a lamp having base terminals therein, a hood forthe lamp rotatable on the shell, means preventing longitudinal movement of the hood On the shell,

l THOMAS J. 

